Current available implements for preparing row environments and placing agricultural seeds in that row environment have seen an undesirable trend of growing in weight. This increase in weight is due generally to having the ability to do more rows during a pass through the field. Also, the total volume of the containers for seed, fertilizer, chemicals, etc has increased thus adding the weight that must be carried. These factors have required that the central frame structure, the undercarriage structure, and the tool bar structure also be heavier than the older, smaller implements used to prepare and plant rows.
The current row-producing implements also have performance related features that add weight and complexity to the row-producing operation. These features include row meter drive systems that can control dispense rates independently for individual rows or for groups of rows. Other systems that add weight include means of actively controlling down force on individual row units, more elaborate sensor systems that monitor and optimize the performance of the row implement, and other added features.
In addition, the current commonly used large row-producing implements may also have secondary systems for folding the implement to widths that are practical for transporting on public roads and secondary systems that allow the tool bar to flex sufficiently to follow uneven ground contours. These systems also contribute to the total weight of the row-producing implement.
The undercarriage of current row-producing implements limits some of the options for row spacing because parts of the undercarriage mechanism take up space between some of the row units. Moving the undercarriage to the rear improves options including: 1. Optimizing row unit designs; 2. Optimizing row spacing; and 3. Optimizing undercarriage designs.
Furthermore, the similar agriculture implements currently available on the market lack a few very beneficial features, including: 1) a user-friendly means of constructing a strip of ideal seed bed for the seed; 2) a cost-effective means for constructing a strip of ideal seed bed for the seed; 3) a user-friendly means of placing the seed laterally centered on the strip of ideal seed bed; and 4) the implement components shared in both seed bed construction and seed placement. An ideal seedbed would be affected by implements. The ideal seedbed primarily has these features. It has minimal compaction for the expanding roots to encounter. Plants sprout at the same time and develop uniformly, both below ground and above ground. Plant food placed in the most desirable locations. It should also have an excellent water infiltration deep into the soil where roots can find it in a hot dry weather period while minimizing water runoff from the field during rain events or between irrigation cycles.
The high cost of energy, the need to better control erosion, and the advent of herbicides that effectively control weeds has encourage the practice of what is generally referred to as strip tilling. Strip-till is a conservation practice that uses a minimum tillage. It combines the soil drying and warming benefits of conventional tillage with the soil-protecting advantages of no-till by preparing only the portion of the soil that is to contain the seed row. Another benefit of strip-tilling is that the farmer can apply chemicals and fertilizer at the same time as tillage. A narrow, tilled strip is intended to become the row containing materials that include fertilizer, seed, insecticide, and eventually the growing plant. It is currently difficult to precisely follow the tilled strip's location with subsequent operations such as seed placement. With min-tillage practice, it leaves previous crop residue in place to avoid or greatly reduce soil erosion from water and wind. A significant problem is that covered soil does not warm up or dry up soon enough to plant a crop for maximum economic yield. The proposed invention provides a very user friendly means to provide narrow strips of bare soil that provide a highly favorable seed bed that any low skilled hired operator can achieve.
The high cost of implements makes it desirable to have multi-purpose implements or implements that share components. The present invention allows for components, for example the undercarriage arrangement, an expensive and functionally desirable portion of the implement, to be used for multiple operations. The multi-purpose undercarriage component has desirable characteristics includes keeping compaction low, having good mobility, not producing ruts, being able to steer, and being able to simultaneously carry high loads.
Other components that may have multi-purpose uses include, but not limited to, material containers, material distribution components, depth control components, guidance control components, computers, software, and frame structure.
The present invention is an integrated system comprising a new and unique combination of both state of the art components to make it easy to precisely follow the narrow strip-tilled path with subsequent row-producing operations.
The present invention requires the use of two additional control systems not found on conventional row-producing agricultural implements.                1. An active toolbar height control system similar to header height control systems on combines.        2. An active steering system for the undercarriage.        